Kniteks-a board game

ABSTRACT

Kniteks is a game played on a square board. The game objects are chips that are placed randomly on the board at the beginning of each new game. The game is played by one, two, three or four players. Each player is trying to collect as many chips as possible. The winner is the player who has collected more chips than any other player.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention (Kniteks) relates to the field of games in general and more particularly to board games.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Kniteks belongs to the type of games that are played on a board. It has some similarities with chess and checkers and possibly with other games borad games. For example, it is being played on a similar board as in the mentioned above games with the only difference that the board can vary in size. The game uses board objects similar to checkers. However the functionality of those objects is different. Contrary to checkers where the objects could be moved—Kniteks' object are static and remained on the same spot unless captured. In a Kniteks game, contrary to chess or checkers there is only one piece that a player can move on the board—it is called a swipe. It can be moved on the board only according to a certain rule. This rule is the same as the move for a ‘knight’ in chess—an ‘L’ shaped.

[0003] Several players can participate in the same game (on the same board). It is the similar to chess or checkers with the only difference that the number of players in a Kniteks game could be up to 4.

SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0004] It is an object of the invention to provide a game wherein objects are the board, the chips and player's swipes.

[0005] The board is a grid of squares. The board can vary in size (15×15 meaning 15 squares horizontally and 15 squares vertically or 16×16 or 17×17 . . . ).

[0006] A chip—is a game object that does not belong to any player until it is collected. Every chip occupies a square on the board that is not occupied by other chips. Number of chips on the board can vary (20, 30, . . . ) depending on the board size.

[0007] Every player has an instrument used to collect the chips on the board. This instrument is called a ‘swipe’. Every player has a swipe of his/her own. A player can have only one swipe.

[0008] To collect the chips a player moves his swipe according to a rule. The swipe is moved in an ‘L’ shaped move in any direction (the same as knight's moves in chess). For example, 2 squares horizontally and one square vertically. When the swipe is place on the square with a chip on each—the chip is considered to be captured by the player to whom the above-mentioned swipe does belong. A swipe cannot capture other players' swipes. The scoring system is built based on the number of chips a player collects and the time the player spends in the process. The winner is the player who collected more chips than the other players.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] Referring to the drawings in particular, the invention comprises a game that includes a playing field or board which is covered with a grid of cells(squares). The board size can vary (10×10 or 15×15 . . . ). (FIG. 1) Every cell is a container for an object (one and only one object per cell). Any of the cells on the board can be either empty or not empty ( not empty cell—contains an object).

[0010] Game objects (as shown on FIG. 2) appear on the playing board in random order. Another term for the game objects—chips. The number of the chips may vary (20, 30, . . . ) depending on the size of the field or game level.

[0011] Every player has an instrument used to collect the chips on the board. This instrument is called a ‘swipe’. Every player has a swipe of his/her own. A player can have only one swipe. (FIG. 3)

[0012] To begin the game, the players must decide between themselves the order in which players will be making their moves. In the computer version of the game—the software program will do it.

[0013] Once the oder of play is decided the first player is ready make his initial move. The first player can put his ‘swipe’ anywhere on the board. (FIG. 4). If the player puts his swipe on cell with a chip—the player captures the chip.

[0014] Next is the turn of the second player. He is free to put his swipe anywhere with the exception of the other player swipe. (FIG. 5). If there are more than two players in the game, the same rule applies for the initial moves by other participating players.

[0015] When all the swipes are on the board it is the first player's turn to make a move with his swipe. The player can move only his swipe. He can not move the game chips or other player's swipes. The swipe can be moved in an ‘L’ shape movement (FIG. 6) or for example, two cells horizontally and one cell vertically.

[0016] The swipe can be moved to anywhere on the board (according to the swipe moving rules) with the exception of the other players swipes. (FIG. 7).

[0017] Capturing game chips.(FIG. 8) If the swipe is placed by a player on the cell with a chip—the chip disappears from the game field. The chip is now captured by the player.

[0018] The players continue to make their moves in the respective orders until there are no more chips left on the board (FIG. 9) and the game ends. The player who has the most chips wins. If several players have the same number of chips—the winner is the one who spent the least amount of time to collect the chips. The draw is declared when several players have the same number of chips, moves and time. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A game called Kniteks comprising: A game field (a square board) with a number of randomly placed objects (chips) at the beginning of each game. The board is a grid of squares. A chip—is a game object that does not belong to any player until it is captured. Every chip occupies a square that is not occupied by other chips. Every player has an instrument that is used to collect the chips on the board. This instrument is called a ‘swipe’. Every player has a swipe of his/her own. A player can have only one swipe. A swipe can only be moved on the board according to a rule—an ‘L’ shape move in any direction (for example, 2 squares horizontally and 1 square vertically). The swipe captures chips only on the square that it has landed. The swipe cannot capture other players' swipes.
 2. A game according to claim 1 wherein said medium is a computer with display, hardware and software and with or without Internet connection and said randomly distributed chips and their positions are generated by a computer software at the beginning of each new game. An order in which the players are making their moves is determined by the computer software.
 3. A game according to claim 1 wherein said medium is a simple board and said randomly distributed chips and their positions are determined by the participating players at the beginning of each new game. An order in which the players are making their moves is determined by the participating players.
 4. A game according to claim 1 wherein every player objective is to capture as many chips as possible. The game ends when there is no more chips left on the board.
 5. A game according to claim 1 wherein the winner of the game is declared the player who collected more chips than other participating players. If several players have collected the same number of chips, the winner is the player who spent less time to collect the chips than the other players. A draw is declared in case when it is impossible to determine the winner (same number of collected chips and same game time or other possible reasons) 